Astronomers have recently discovered another planet which has a good chance of sustaining life. Gliese 163C, as this planet is called, lies a mere 50 light years away from earth and is one of two planets orbiting a red dwarf star in the Dorado constellation. Xavier Bonfilis, of France’s Joseph Fourier University-Grenoble and a member of the team that discovered this planet, released information on the discovery of this potentially habitable world early last week.
Scientists, like Bonfilis, have really focused on Gliese 163C’s orbit, which falls into a range known as the Habitable Zone, a distance from the sun in which water could exist and life has a decent chance of forming. However, it would not be a pleasant place to live, as a mass seven times that of earth, potentially radical temperatures, and a highly dense atmosphere would all make it extremely difficult for complex life to exist, although microbes might find it tolerable.
The planet has now been added to a list of possibly habitable worlds managed by The Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. It is one of six bodies on this list, which covers a variety of planets, although usually ones much larger than Earth. The most impressive aspect of this list, however, is that four of the six planets on it were discovered in the last year alone. New telescopes and imaging technology has made it possible to locate object never before detectable by humans. This is an exciting time when we begin to learn ever more about the universe around us.
With current advances in technology, scientists could possibly find planet capable of sustaining human life in the near future. However, this raises a few questions about mankind as a whole. Are we prepared to discover new worlds, expand past our home planet, and potentially become a space faring civilization? A large number of problems remain on Earth today, and will likely continue for much of the foreseeable future, should we really expand these problems beyond the confines of our tiny portion of the galaxy?
Regardless of the answers to these problems, there is at least one truth that we should keep in mind when considering our options as a species. If mankind wants to continue surviving, it will one day need to leave Earth. There will be a point sometime in the far future when we will no longer be able to live on our home planet, for one reason or another, and therefore need to seek some other place to settle. I for one feel that any effort made in this direction is worthwhile, even if immediate benefits are not clear. Research like the case of Gliese 163C, is merely the first steps in a long process towards human survival, and that is why it remains necessary. Luckily, such research has not required extensive resources yet, but it is only a matter of time before any advancement will require the efforts of a much larger group of people than the dedicated astronomers of today when a planet worth visiting is found.
Despite the lack of a destination, there is still work to be done in the present. New technology needs to be developed if we ever hope to travel to new worlds, technology we could at least work on now. However, in a time of economic recession it is all too common to see this development cut in favor of more profitable research. Luckily some scientists have continued working and are studying everything from better spacecraft to a theoretical warp drive. Hopefully these technologies and others like it will allow us to accomplish great things in the future, although it probably won’t be in my lifetime.
